AIDAN CASSIE grew up on Canada’s (relatively) warm, west coast. At Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and later at the Edinburgh College of Art, she studied animation and earned her Media Arts degree creating the hand-drawn short film, Sitting Next to Bernie. (It screened at festivals from Newfoundland to Brazil, but you can watch it more conveniently, below.) After working as an illustrator in character and product design for many years, she found her way back to the joy of story-telling while creating picture books. Her debut story, STERLING, BEST DOG EVER went on to win awards and her most recent book, THE WORD FOR FRIEND, was praised in a Kirkus starred review with, “Delightful and heartwarming, this read-aloud performs like a welcoming embrace."
Aidan uses pencil sketches, paint, found textures, and digital colour to craft her artwork. She is constantly inspired (and often distracted by) the antics of animals, and unabashedly sees the world through an anthropomorphic lens.
Aidan created her first picture books while living in the south of France, but now writes and draws back in Canada, on a little island, in the Salish Sea, with her tiny family and giant dog. Canada’s a lot colder than she remembered.
Sitting Next to Bernie – screened at Anima Mundi (Rio de Janeiro), the Woodstock International Film Festival and The International Festival of Ottawa. Honourable Mention Award winner at the Angelus Awards, Los Angeles